Get on the bus, CPS Special Ed!!!*

Note to self:  Don’t post an important, short informational video designed to help CPS kids with special needs keep busing service in their IEP’s on the day the glorious Cubs win the effin’ World Series. Repost said video on Sunday morning. 

CPS is ramping up their latest version of special education funding cuts in new and creative ways, such as revoking busing service for many students under their “new” busing policies that limit services that in the past had been provided to students with special needs as a matter of course because it is in Federal Law under IDEA!.  Here’s a quick video  with some tips to help you protect busing service for your child with special needs.

*PET PEEVE ALERT!!!

CPS’s Special Education Department uses the moniker “ODLSS” which stands for Office of Diverse Learners Supports and Services, which is a HUGE pet peeve of mine.  ALL learners are diverse, but not NOT ALL learners have a disability that impacts their learning to the point that they qualify for special education services under IDEA.  The terms “Special Needs” and “Special Education” are in the Federal law that provides protections for students who have special needs.  “Diverse Learners” is a fluffy, vague and deliberate marketing ploy to undermine the legality, weight and responsibility surrounding the challenges of educating students who have HUGE obstacles to overcome.  Words matter.  Special Education is Special Education.

I am now going to stable my high horse for the evening.  His name is Jake.

Go Cubs!